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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Begging for relevence...

A apecies facing the prospect of extinction lashes out at...everything.

WASHINGTON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - U.S. securities regulators are considering new short-sale restrictions with no exemptions for market makers, people familiar with the regulators' plans said on Tuesday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is due to meet on Wednesday to vote on rules that would restrict short-selling in a company's stock if that stock fell by more than a certain percentage, such as 10 percent, the sources said.

The SEC is considering allowing legitimate hedging during the short-sale curb but no general exemption for market makers, the sources said.

The SEC was not immediately available for comment.

Short-sellers bet on a stock's decline. In a short-sale, an investor borrows stock and sells it in the hope that its price will drop. When it does, the seller profits by buying back the stock at the lower price and returning the borrowed shares.